Last Word: Fifth Wave, Hidden Gem in OB and the Freeze Filibuster

By Bill Dries

There is one less contender in the crowded field of potential and declared candidates for the Republican nomination for Governor in 2018. State Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris of Collierville was nominated for federal court judge Thursday by President Donald Trump who also nominated Memphis attorney and former federal prosecutor Tommy Parker to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee as well. Both are part of what The White House described as a “fifth wave” of judicial nominees.

Rough week at the Shelby County Commission and more to come Monday when the commission votes on setting the new county property tax rate. The back and forth this week over that and the budget the commission approved at a special meeting this past Monday involved some larger issues that were around before the current budget season and will probably be around when the tax rate is set.

A “hidden gem” in Olive Branch proves real estate really is all about location. The 258,300 square foot Agracel Inc. manufacturing building in OB had years of deferred maintenance, a set of about 20 leaks in the roof and about a dozen metal presses as well as thousands of feet of office space. The office space proving to be beyond hope. But it had rail service and it is across Hacks Cross from the Olive Branch Airport. So it’s a triple threat for manufacturing, logistics and/or distribution.

Arsenic and lead at high levels in the groundwater beneath the Allen Fossil Plant in southwest Memphis and next steps.

In two weeks a new Elvis Presley box set gives you Presley’s complete Sun Records recordings including the outtakes and the very first recordings he made for Memphis Recording Service – the business Sam Phillips had for anyone who wanted to make a record of their own. Some of this has already been out there but not the whole enchilada. Here’s Rolling Stone on the set including a clip from one of the outtakes that gives some idea about how things worked in the studio.

Meanwhile, just down the street from Sun – on the other side of Walker Radiator Works – there are plans for a mixed use overhaul of the circa 1949 building that has several bays, all but one of them vacant, according to the application with the Center City Development Corp. this week for an exterior improvement grant. There would be three commercial businesses and five apartment units at the development called The Marshall. The basic overall structure at 672 Marshall would remain but the exterior façade would change pretty dramatically with new storefronts, entry doors, a wood rain screen and a shaded patio facing Marshall. And there would be some kind of art on the wall facing Orleans. This goes to the CCDC next Wednesday.

Berliner Morgenpost has an interactive that allows you to compare the size of the Larsen C iceberg to your city or town. So, of course we disregarded the German text except the word “Eisberg” and dragged that berg across an ocean to M-town. It is just about a drive from Memphis to Jackson, maybe a little bit longer. So, a day trip to the Casey Jones museum.

The new cover story in our weekly, The Memphis News, is all about the Beale Street cover charge.

The PDF of the new edition is up now on this website. The hard copies hit the streets Friday morning and the online version of the cover story goes up Friday afternoon with some online-only extra content.

On Behind The Headlines a different view and perspective on the city’s significant blight problem with Brittney Williams of Neighborhood Preservation Inc.’s legal arm, Janet Boscarino of Clean Memphis and Christopher Blank of WKNO FM. The show airs Friday at 7 p.m. on WKNO TV.